162 
*ftf RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
February 5, 1921 
Your Profits Depend on 
Your Farming Methods 
A comparison of horse and tractor operating costs presents 
many startling facts for the progressive business farmer of 
today. If you are a horse farmer it is difficult for you to 
fully appreciate the value of power farming for the simple 
reason that it is hard to visualize the added advantages 
to be derived from new methods. 
It is hard for you to figure cost of 
operation. It is hard for you to see 
and reduce the advantages of deep, 
quick plowing, of rapid discing and 
planting and fast harvesting into 
dollars. 
It is easy to overlook inefficient and 
costly horse methods and at the 
same time to discount the tractor’s 
many advantages. But this year 
the problem confronting you calls 
for a careful investigation of crop 
production costs. 
You c r n no longer dodge the issue. 
It is either low cost efficient power 
farming or high cost slow horse 
methods. 
The Samson Model **M” tractor has 
lowered operating costs on thousands 
of farms during the last year. Samson 
farmers made a profit this last year 
even though market conditions are 
low at the present time. If they had 
operated their farms as in previous 
years with costly animal power they 
would have been more than dis¬ 
couraged. 
It is up to you this minute to de¬ 
cide whether you are going to fortify 
yourself for the coming season, so 
that your labors will show a profit. 
Let us show you how you can do 
this with the Samson Model “M” 
tractor—low cost power for your 
field work—your belt work—wher¬ 
ever you need power on your farm. 
Write Us—Let Us Co 
Into This Question 
With You 
We have much more informa~ 
tiononthis subject of lowering 
farm operating costs. It's yours 
for the asking without cost or 
obligation. Drop us a postal 
card today. 
SAMSON TRACTOR CO., 512 Industrial Ave., JanesviHe,W»*. 
Division General Motors Corporation 
Manufacturer * of Tractors, Trucks, Power and Horse-Drawn Implements 
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price and latest improvements. First order gets agency. 
Folding Sawing Machine Co., 161 West Harrison St.. Chicago, III. 
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1 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER | 
— 333 West 30th Street, New York 
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PEANUTS— 
1 *1.00 for 4 Idb. or $2.25 for 10 lba. laree Vrelnla Poanuta 
.•rod br mall. Flnoat for roa»tlne, Baltina, or candy 
t of recipes fret. PINNER & CO., SUFFOLK, VA. 
When you write advertisers mention 
The Rural New-Yorker and you’ll set 
a quick reply and a “square deal.” See 
suarantee editorial page. : s : 
Wanted-FILLER FRUIT TREES 
of bearing or near bearing age under four inches 
trunk diameter. Advise quantity and varieties. 
M. G. KAINS, Room 505, 47 West 34th Street, New York City 
Wood Ashes h F ed o p R 1 ** bags ’ " 8 
w. H. LEIDY, 
_Swarthmore, Pa. 
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LUMP LIME GROUND BURNT LIME 
HYDRATED LIME 
also 
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ROBERT A. REICHARD :: ALLENTOWN, PA. 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
Boiling Cider in Galvanized Iron 
We boilel down cider in a galvanized 
iron maple syrup pan, and the cider seems 
to have a puckery taste. Is it safe to 
use? MBS. V. M. CL 
Ninevah Junction, N. Y. 
If the cautious addition of a little pre¬ 
cipitated chalk, with good stirring, takes 
away that taste, you can likely use the 
cider syrup, which is flovored with malatc 
of zinc from the pan. If the zinc taste 
still remains better be cautious, as zinc 
salts are mildly poisonous. Incidentally, 
we fear that you have queered the pan 
for maple syrup, as, if the zinc coat¬ 
ing is gone, the bare iron will react with 
the tannin in the syrup and give a rather 
dilute ink, harmless, to be sure, but un¬ 
attractive. 
Fireproofing Fabrics 
A sad case of a child’s dress catching 
fire from a bonfire recently leads me to 
ask if there is any waterproofing which 
is also fireproofing, and if not, what is 
the best fireproofing? w. P. M. 
Hanford, Wash. 
A waterproofing mixture would hardly 
serve both purposes, as it nearly always 
renders the fabric stiff and unpleasant to 
handle as dress goods. There is no fire¬ 
proofing mixture which can be used on 
dress goods, but the dress, if of wash 
goods, can be made very slow burning by 
being soaked in a solution of ammonium 
phosphate and alum, 5 per cent of each, 
that is. about six ouncees of each salt to 
the gallon of water, and dried without 
much wringing. This treatment must 
be repeated at each washing. The dan¬ 
ger is that, the use of anything of this 
sort will lead to overconfidence and care¬ 
lessness. At best, the material may 
smoulder if a spark touches it. 
Water in Undisturbed Well 
An old well has for many years been 
drawn upon heavily, and we now plan to 
use only a little water from it. Will the 
water continue good? R. L. c. 
Stamford, Conn. 
No one can tell at a distance. The 
chances are that if you see that dirt, hop 
toads and small vermin of all sorts are 
kept out, the well will continue sweet 
and clean. 
Flaring Lantern 
I have a lantern which jumps and 
flares, and then goes out. What is the 
matter with it? R. r. 
Marlboro, N. Y. 
No one can tell for sure by just think¬ 
ing about it. but it looks as if you closed 
it a little too tight and then, when the 
metal warmed up a little, the air also 
got warm and expanded, blowing past the 
wick and putting the flame out as it. went 
by. Try a very small hole in the _ oil 
cap, not enough to leak oil, but just 
enough to let off air pressure. 
Resting a Razor; Salt and Thirst 
1, Is it true that a razor is improved 
by resting? 2. Why does eating salt fish 
make us thirsty? w. w. H. 
New York. 
1. It is the genex*al opinion, resting 
on experience, that a razor blade, laid 
aside for a time, will sharpen itself, more 
or less, or will at least be improved. No 
reason is really known, the theory, with 
no experiments which positively confirm 
it, being that the metal rearranges itself. 
2. A lot more is known about the sec¬ 
ond question. The fluid part of the blood, 
in which the red aud white corpuscles 
float, and by which they are carried along, 
is of definite, but complex, composition. 
Several of its constituents are too dif¬ 
ficult for us to analyze at the present 
state of our knowledge, but we do kuow 
what inorganic salts it contains and 
in what proportion they are present. We 
also know that the body is made up of 
minute subdivisions which have been long 
called “cells.” These consist of a thin 
wall and a cell contents, both. the wall 
and the contents being different in the dif¬ 
ferent parts and organs of the body, but 
being all alike in this, that liquid can 
pass through the wall into or out of the 
cell. Whether a liquid, water, for instance, 
in which the cell is placed, will pass in or 
out, or neither, depends on the amount 
of salts in the liquid outside the cell in 
relation to the amount of salts in the 
liquid inside the cell. The phenomenon 
is named “osmosis.” and quite a lot is 
known about it. but its bearing on the 
present question is this, that, when you 
have taken in some salt, as in salt fish 
or any other food or just plain salt, if 
you have thereby rendered the body fluids 
as a whole more salt than they are used 
to. the body sends in the sensation we call 
“thirst.” and you drink enough water to 
restore the proper balance. 
Cleaning Paint Brushes 
How can I remove hardened paint and 
varnish from brushes without injuring 
the hair? L. F. H. 
Whitehouse Station, N. J. 
-n 
Turpentine will help some, and you 
can also try. with due precaution, soak¬ 
ing in denatured alcohol, to which you 
have added a quarter of its volume of 
the strongest water of ammonia you can 
get. But you have to watch this, as it 
will affect the hair if it soaks too long. 
Case-hardening Iron 
How can I case-harden iron? 
Leverett, Mass. C. E. F. 
This is more an art than can be learned 
from mere directions, and there are two 
general methods, the older and better being 
to pack the articles ( several being usually 
treated at once) in an iron box with 
finely divided carbon, good charcoal or 
bone black being usually used, luting the 
box with clay and heating to redness in 
a furnace for several hours, according to 
its size and the effect wanted. The 
shorter method is to melt cyanide of pot¬ 
ash, a very poisonous salt, on the metal 
in an open flame; the salt melts aud 
spreads, and is decomposed, carbonizing 
the surface of the iron. In each method 
considerable practice is needed for good 
results. 
A Unique Ice Formation 
Stalagmites formed by the dripping of 
carbonate of lime from the roof of a 
cavern are often seen, but the cut shows 
what might be called an ice stalagmite, 
or an inverted icicle. This queer and 
unusual object formed one Winter night 
by water dripping from the faucet when 
the temperature was just at the freezing 
point in the open air, but hardly cold 
enough to freeze the water in the pipe. 
It soon crumbled and fell away after the 
picture was taken. A. D. D. 
North Carolina. 
Preserving Cider with Benzoate of Soda 
How much benzoate of soda should be 
put in a barrel of cider to keep it below 
one-half of one per cent alcohol? 
New Preston, Conn. c. E. A. 
There is no guarantee that benzoate 
of soda or anything else except heat will 
preserve cider. A half-pound to the bar¬ 
rel will do all that cau be reasonably ex¬ 
pected, and if you start with very clean, 
new cider, running it through a cream 
separator, if you can. and keep it cool, 
this amount will hold back the yeast for 
a time. But if the fermentation has be¬ 
gun, nothing but heat will entirely kill 
the yeast. 
Improving Musty Cider 
Is there any way to remedy a musty 
taste in a barrel of cider thx-ee months 
old? C. D. H. 
Peekskill, N. Y. 
It is not likely that you cau do other 
than turn it into vinegar as quickly as 
possible by adding a good lot of “mother” 
and letting it have lots of air. The taste 
may go as the mother gets to work. If 
not, it is hopeless. 
